Ropeburn
by kladlod
Summary: Maxwell Purvis is your average joe that makes his living as a handyman; fixing household appliances, carriages and anything else that needs to be straightened out into adequate However, when he's given chances and offers by various individuals, his life takes a turn for both good and worse, spiraling his future into a trajectory he never saw


It's hard to start with where I begin with my story. I suppose I could start with what I do. I'm a human, obviously, and hailing from Gilneas, I grew up in Stormglen and moved to a city-boy life, cleaning the streets. My father got me into the worker's union, a set of people that went about Gilneas fixing with our hands whatever we could. At ten years old, I was fixing appliances like tables, sinks, beds. It was all maintenance on woodwork in the end. At fifteen, we, uh... we expanded. We went from - I went from - basic household things to actual households. That's when it started getting dangerous on account of mold and, well, the possibility that I, myself, could botch everything and have a downed house on my hands.

I don't really know what words to put into it. Did I enjoy it? Well, I've nothing to compare it to, since it was the only job I ever did. I remember poor kids coming into the union as a result of their parents and so forth, so we at the union were always pretty much dealing with younger versions of ourselves. We were all brothers in the end, and that's what counted. Nobles saw us as dregs compared to their damn ego. I can understand why we didn't get much credit in the end; we were shadows in the background, coming and going to fix shit.

Now, the job wasn't occasional or anything. The job was every week, twelve hours a day. It sure as shit was hard work, and if we laid off one of our own because they came down with a cold, we'd do our absolute best to make sure they were back on the job as soon as they could, lest Gilneas officials laid him off for good. I'd like to think the union was a society. It was my home, it was, and I represented them proudly. That's not to say we were treated like absolute crap, though. Gilneas knew we were there and officials gave us the chance to form the union ourselves because, regardless of how prim and proper we weren't, they needed us. Gilneas needed a union that was cooperative and damn-well dedicated to their jobs. Our jobs were our lives, and that'd the case for years and years to come.

The only thing Gilneas gave me was their support and their community. From the worker's union, I was able to meet my former sweetheart, Alexandra, who was apart of the Underwood family, a prominent group of people that, of course, were higher than us. She was born into a family that contributed to the production of Gilneas' protection itself, like... weapons, armor, all of that. They were rich as hell.

Now, before I go on, I'll be honest in saying that no matter how dedicated I was to my union, it always felt like shit to see others walking about in the streets with loads of gold in their pockets; even more in their banks. Hell, I can safely say all of us at the union felt cheated out of that chance in some way. In another way, we were still all glad to have eachother and that's what made us a single force. Anyway, so I'll cut this short because it's not exactly something I like to talk about. I was in Gilneas and the Underwoods, specifically Alexandra, called about a wall problem. I was the one to go and when I got there... well, let's just say the wall wasn't the first thing sprung to mind.

I've seen many girls in my years and, don't look at anything wrong, I'd fancied and been with a few over the years. After all, the union had their fair share of women as a normalcy. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life. Her jet-black hair was curled into little tufts and her hair was made into this big bun. She was sporting this ever-so-classy dress which, hell, when I think of it, it's like seeing it in front of my eyes right at this moment. It was mostly black and then there were patches of white in good areas. Soft lips, notable green eyes... she was perfect.

It wasn't long before we'd start meeting up in secrecy. We both remembered the day we met eachther that evening. In fact, while I was fixing the wall, we were having conversations about ourselves. She was mostly interested in how my living worked, what I did and what I thought about it. I got some information on how she lived and so forth. It was a night to be remembered, that's for certain.

I remember when the curse weeded its way in, as well as the forsaken, to the city and the place as a whole. Now, at this point, the union had a member tally upwards of about fifty. They're all... gone now, unfortunately. Or at least I think they're all gone, because I haven't yet seen any other handymen or even handywomen that I recognize from back then. I sure as hell would've recognized someone if they even set foot and stayed in Stormwind, but alas, that isn't the case.

It's been three years, and now I'm twenty-six. I work in Stormwind as a regular fix-it man, performing the same job as I did in Gilneas for Stormwind. I also volunteer for community service when it's needed, which is to clean the streets of rubbish and leaves. All in all, I get pay whatever way I can, and these are my two sources. I can't afford a horse, my house isn't exactly the prime of houses but it does its job well, I suppose. My name's Maxwell Purvis, and this is my story.

**ROPEBURN**

I feel the incentive to tell you how I look, just to give you an idea - an inkling of it - of who I am. My hair, black, is brushed back and I'd like to think it's somewhat neat. It sure doesn't look frazzled or anything, just... fairly kempt would be the words. My lips are thin, I suppose, and I sport a set of sideburns that stretch close into my chin-hair. Aside from that, light stubble. I like to at least think I've preserved my looks since getting out of Gilneas with the firm physique I got from the work. I guess looking fit and attracting some girl's attentions from time to time is, uh... good, but I haven't exactly gotten into the romantic life since Alexandra.

I guess now would be the time to tell you about what the hell the average day for me would be. I'm, first and foremost, employed by the city itself to act as a handyman, so I don't have a go-to guy on my side for that. As a result, my pay is earned from the bank, but I sure as hell shouldn't have gotten my hopes up when I heard that they would use vaults of gold to pay me, because in actual fact, I'm still only being paid ten gold per house or other such thing. The amount of things that need fixing fluctuate from one a day to about five, if I'm lucky. An average day makes me about twenty-five or thirty gold, which makes a week's gold upwards of around one-hundred and twenty five. Three weeks and I'd have around four-hundred gold. Now that is okay, but it's certainly not good enough for a well-kept house.

Every morning I wake up at about seven or eight in the morning and purchase myself a cup of hot brew, a chicken sandwich and a copy of the city's papers. I spend my time outside for thirty odd minutes, after which I head off to the keep and meet up with one of the officials that keeps me updated on what's going on in the city. They tell me when I need to go and, well, I do my thing. At about one or two in the evening, I head to the tavern and grab myself a cold one and a chicken sandwich. This has been my schedule since arriving at Stormwind three years ago. I can safely say it's felt like a much longer time than that, what with Gilneas going belly-up and... hell, just everything, really.

Skip ahead three years and here is me, Max, sitting in the tavern, eight at night with a mead-mug in my hands. Every night I go to the same tavern and order more or less the same thing. I'm actually quite glad I haven't become that notorious guy, because I'm telling you now, being in the spotlight isn't something you want. Has my life been lonely so far? No, it hasn't. I live my life, I do what I'm good at, and I'll have a conversation with someone now and then. There isn't much I could ask for.

There's nothing to compare it to.


End file.
